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-Changed keycus into a device and moved it into it´s own file, only 3
parameters are saved instead of 64k. Changed I/O to 16 bits & uses
memory maps instead of installing at runtime. Simplified digital
player 3 inputs that are hooked up to dac inputs. [smf]

-diserial: Added methods for clocking the receiver/transmitter outside
of the timers. [Curt Coder]

-z80dart: Merged in uPD7201 and modernized the interface. [Curt Coder]

-emuopts.c: Added a new option -statename which allows to specify the
location of state saving, relative to -state_directory (whose usage
remains unchanged). Syntax is basically the same as snapname, allowing
for the / character as path separator, %g as the driver name, and
%d_[media] as the image name mounted in the "media" device.

For example, using -statename foo/%g when running "mame wrally" will
store save states into the folder sta/foo/wrally/ ; using -statename
%g/%d_cart when running "mess nes -cart smb" will store save states
into the folder sta/nes/smb/ ; using -statename %g/%d_cdrm when
running "mess pce -cart cdsys -cdrm draculax" will store save states
into sta/pce/draculax/ Specifying a media switch which is not
available (e.g. %d_cdrm in a c64) or a media switch where no image is
mounted (e.g. %d_cdrm in pce while playing a hucard game) will revert
the option to its default value %g and save states will be stored in
sta/*gamename*/ as in previous versions. [Fabio Priuli]

-msm5205.c: modernized the device. [Fabio Priuli]

-Added ds2401 rom loading to digital i/o board, rather than specifying
it in each game. Fixes Mambo A Go-Go booting. [smf]

-snes_snd: modernized the SNES sound device [Fabio Priuli]

-tms6100: modernized theTMS6100 and M58819 devices. [Osso]

-Moved default card config, device inputs and clock off the slot
interface so they can be specified for all cards [smf]

-Added support for machine config fragments that are applied when the
cart is loaded, converted NCR 53C7xx to devcb2 as an example [smf]

-Converted NCR5380N to devcb2 [smf]

-Converted NCR5390 to devcb2 & use MCFG_DEVICE_CLOCK to set SCSI chip
clock [smf]

-pcshare: make all the common pc hardware in various pc based drivers
inherit from pcat_base_state [Carl]

-Adds the Image menu to the QT debugger´s main window. This allows the
user to mount disk/c images from the UI. [Andrew Gardner]

-uiimage.c: when creating a new file from the File Manager, require the
user to enter an extension too [Fabio Priuli]

-modernized the RP5H01 device [Osso]

-Converted the Konami System 573 Security Cassettes to use slots. The
current setting is no longer saved, so the default cassette is "game".
Some games have additional I/O connected via the security cassette,
which is now hooked up when the cassette is loaded instead of patched
directly into the memory map. If the game has a separate "install"
cassette then you need to select this and hard reset (shift+F3 or
select reset from the slot menu) before it will let you install from
the CD. [smf]

-modernized the MB14241 and MathBox devices. [Osso]

-inpttype.h: Use O1 instead of O0 on the critical function
[Hans Ostermeyer]

-Fixed clipping of device address maps if the size of the map caused
the end address to wrap. Added a proof of concept implementation of a
address map bank device, which allows you to bank memory maps. Hooked
it up to Taito GNET as an example [smf]

-Finished converting Taito GNET to use address maps instead of
installing at run time [smf]

-Modernized the geebee and warpwarp sound devices [Osso]

-finished modernizing gp9001 [smf]

-modernized the MM58274C RTC device. [Fabio Priuli]

-Allow AM_NOP in device address maps, there may be others that should
be allowed. [smf]

-Created a PCCARD slot and Linear Flash Card for System 573. Uses
bankdev.c for banking the onboard flash chips and the pccard slots.
This adds an extra two calls to the memory system & intelfsh.c already
called the memory system for accessing the data. [smf]

-Split rf5c296 and ata flash functionality from taitogn.c into their
own devices. The pccard slot has had to revert to use memory handlers
instead of device maps for the moment [smf]

-powervr2: Some register groups are obviously 32 bits, so make them so [O. Galibert]

-naomi: Better IRQ isolation [O. Galibert]

-naomig1: Make the dma cpu-independant [O. Galibert]

-First pass at tidying up ide interface. It no longer tries to force
everything to act as a PC. A copy of the VIA VT83C461 datasheet would
be useful to remove some of the hacks added to make the games using it
work again. [smf]

-Modernize adc1038 and adc12138 devices. [Osso]

-Added USE_SIMD flag to RSP headers and began converting some opcodes
to use SSE* intrinsics. Current plan is to target SSSE3-capable
hardware (Core2 and up), with the resulting speedup theorized to be on
the order of 5-10x when conversion is complete, though this applies
only to situations where the emulation is heavily bottlenecked by the
RSP. [MooglyGuy]

-nmk16.c: raphero sound improvements [trap15]

-Added SIMD code for the rest of the RSP vector load instructions [MooglyGuy]

MESS Software lists are XML files. They are quite a new addition to MESS, added in version 0.138.

I've not used them myself, but from what I've read I think:

Normally with MESS you would need to configure the emulator to run a game. With MESS Software lists they contain XML data/markup detailing how to run each game/software correctly in MESS. So to run a game you would select to "Launch from Software Lists", select the game you want to run and the XML configures MESS and runs it.

I'm therefore assuming that the PD MESS Software list sets contain all known working MESS XML software lists and their corresponding roms/disk/tape images. I know the files need to be in specific directory names and files/roms named correctly.. plus MESS checksum and size checks each the same as MAME does with its roms, so it would be a lot of work to build your own working rom set for MESS.

From what I've read MESS has come a long way since I last looked at it properly. It is now a parallel project alongside MAME, with many of the same people working on the code for both projects (as many of the systems share similar, or the same, chips and roms. There is even talk that eventually the 2 will merge into a single Emulator... but personally I would like to see MAME and MESS remain separate, so we can keep arcade and home emulation apart.

I haven't personally ever used MESS much, other than to have a quick play around, because I prefer to have separate emulators for each system.

I used MESS years ago, only to fiddle around with it a bit, and it was already quite amazing how many systems it supported. I only kept my MESS ROMs set update, which is small anyway. To have a full MESS setup would be nice, but then again, you need a lot of space.

I could download the torrent, as I get one free torrent, because I've been 10 years at PD, so I got the option to free one torrent I want for free download